Women’s hoops, handball and more

by Alan Paul

I am posting this from the press stands of the China/France handball game and I’ll tell you what; handball rocks. I don’t know why this hasn’t become more popular in the U.S. It is the demon spawn of soccer, hoops and dodgeball. What’s not to like? The first time I saw it was when my 10-year-old son Jacob made his school team and played in some tournaments last winter. I walked in and was blown away by the excitement – and this was 10-12 year old kids. I am going to spread the gospel of handball when I move back. China is getting crushed 29-15, but any event involving them is fun here.

Here are a few links to posts discussed in my last post here.

This is the story about the woman weightlifter.
This is the wacky tale about how the photo-op with President W came to be.
This is the story about Chinese diver Guo Jingjing.

Now, to my real point: I went to the U.S./China women’s game last night, a day after that epic game between the men. The U.S. women looked tremendous, winning by over 40. China is not bad – they beat Spain in round one and different, obviously weaker U.S. team in an exhibition game here in April.

I really enjoyed speaking with the woman afterwards, too. Really cool group. I will try to get there as often as possible for their games. Tonight: China v. Spain